On Saturday I took eight other hikers on a nine-plus mile hike around the Monument, a loop trail that took us from the Massai Point to the Heart-of-Rocks loop back up the Rhyolite Canyon. This hike took us six hours with several water stops, but we couldn't have asked for a better day weather-wise. In the brutal Arizona summers this hike would have been ~HOT~.
I car-pooled with Hanna and Steve to the Monument, with Brenda, Gordon and Georgie in another car behind us. Paul, Marcia and Victor met us at the Monument. At 9:40am we were ready to start our loop, with mild temperatures and a grey overcast sky. Temperatures were in the mild 70s for most of the hike, ideal hiking weather.
I car-pooled with Hanna and Steve to the Monument, with Brenda, Gordon and Georgie in another car behind us. Paul, Marcia and Victor met us at the Monument. At 9:40am we were ready to start our loop, with mild temperatures and a grey overcast sky. Temperatures were in the mild 70s for most of the hike, ideal hiking weather.
Our starting elevation was 6200' at the parking lot. The highest was 6800' at Heart-of-Rocks and the lowest 5800' in the canyon.
I hadn't been to this place since 2003 and honestly didn't remember the up-and-down elevations of this loop, a combination of several trails from the trailhead. The Ed Riggs trail took us down .7 miles around a switchback, then we followed the eastern loop toward Inspiration Point. We came across a juvenile rattler here, a lone snake that was more scared of us as we were of it. (It scammered up a rock and disappeared into a narrow slot to evade us). Lots of various lizards also scammered around the rocks throughout the day.
Inspiration Point was not on my itinerary but everyone wanted to hike this one-mile out-and-back trail for the vistas of red pinnacles and the direct view of Cochise Head. This added another 40 minutes to our hike. We then resumed our up-and-down hike to the Heart of Rocks loop, where balanced rocks became more prominent as we slowly got out of Rhyolite Canyon and on a more exposed and open plateau with views of the yellowing aspens in the nearby Chiricahua National Forest.
It was here, just before the Heart-of-Rocks loop that we took a lunch break, enjoying the views and chatting. The towering rocks around us truly was impressive. I had forgotton how beautiful this place is. We passed rock formations with such names as "Duck Rock, Camelhead Rock, Old Maid, Kissing Rocks, Punch and Judy" and of course the many round-topped pinnacles that years ago would have reminded me of penises but today resemble more cow paddies.
As hike leader I was a little nervous about taking the people on the entire loop as planned. I didn't want to tire them out. My write-up, directly from the book "Hiking in Arizona's Cactus Country" listed this hike as 8.4 miles, but did not include Inspiration Point and the 1.1 loop around Heart-of-Rocks. We hiked more like ten miles, stopping for water and for letting the rear group catch up with the faster people up front. No one seemed to mind the long hike, as we all enjoyed the views and the rocks from various angles. As hike leader I stayed in the middle, making sure everyone made it to resting points and that no one was left behind.
A horse-mounted park ranger stopped to chat with us near Heart-of-Rocks loop. He had started out in the ranch in the valley, and his horse looked sweaty from the climb up. He does this loop daily, looking for injured hikers and hikers who are hiking with dogs. (It's a $100 fine and a misdemeanor for hiking here with dogs). The many loose rocks on the trail make this section of the monument especially treacherous for clumsy hikers like myself, but no one fell or stumbled today. Brenda and I left our dogs at home for this hike, as much as we both hated being without our four-legged pals.
Illegals now also are found in the Monument, but most of them more in the valley below.
We hiked a continuous downhill after Heart-of-Rocks, hiking in a westerly direction as the pinnacles opened up around us. This was a fun hike in the shady Rhyolite Canyon, but the creek was dry and we seemed to keep on going downhill. What goes down must come up, and according to Gordon we had descended 1000 feet before heading back uphill on the Echo Canyon trail for our final three miles back to the trailhead.
Although this was a challenging hike, I never felt at any time that this hike was strenuous. The hardest part was the first mile going back up the Echo Canyon trail, but once we hit the Hailstone trail we were more on a level ridgeline with the canyon below us. We got back to the parking lot at 4:10pm.
Although this was a challenging hike, I never felt at any time that this hike was strenuous. The hardest part was the first mile going back up the Echo Canyon trail, but once we hit the Hailstone trail we were more on a level ridgeline with the canyon below us. We got back to the parking lot at 4:10pm.
Marcia and Victor stayed at the park since they were camped there, but the rest of us drove back home, stopping in Willcox for dinner at a mediocre Mexican restaurant "Fiesta Siesta" (or something like that)where a bottle of Corona with my enchiladas was $3.75. Food was bland, too, but the company was great. I love having beer and dinner with the hiking group after a good, strenuous hike.
I was very pleased with this hike. I was especially pleased with the turn-out for this hike. I didn't think there would be too many people interested in driving two hours one-way to hike nearly ten miles, (let alone pay $5 a person to enter the Monument) but in the end discovered there are plenty of hiking enthusiasts willing to go out of their way to romp around the pinnacles. Once I got home I realized that the hike we did was more like the "Big Loop" of 9.5 miles, traveling the perimeter of the Monument except for the far northern section of Echo Canyon.
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